Simplifying my life

I am sitting here at the airport waiting for my flight. I will give a full update with picts from Art Unraveled when I get home and recover. I have 3 days of workshops waiting for me when I get home. Can't believe my flight is delayed - again.


I have been getting messages - mostly unpleasant - about swaps. Some that are missing in the mail and some that had a recent mailing date. How am I supposed to swap out stuff from a 7/31 mailing date when I am still getting swap items in the mail? I cannot control the mail. Where do people expect me to pull the swap out of (use your imagination)? Why would I want to keep your swap? If it is that terrific, then you should sell it instead of swap it. Don't you think I put a lot of time and effort into the items I create for swaps? Do people actually think I benefit from being a swap hostess? Well, I am tired of this crap. I have said before that I am going to leave the Yahoo groups but have never followed through. Some people think I have nothing else to do but wait by my mailbox, wait for their swaps, and swap it out the moment I get them all. They don't know about the swaps with no return envelopes, wrong count, no stamps, and the ones I need to go to the P.O. for international mailing. I don't have a job or a family.


It is times like these that I think about what I am getting out of this. I really, really do appreciate the people who tell me how much they get out of my Yahoo groups and from my blog. I love how many people know me as the girl from the blog or as Crazy Art Girl. It is time I think about myself. I have aspirations as well. I have been thinking about this for a long time. I am going to honor all my swap commitments in my groups. After the last swap and when we are done doing the Acrylic Revolution stuff, I am going to close down the groups except Art Techniques. Maybe someone else will want to continue some of them. I don't want to be an absent owner with moderators. I have not decided if I am going to leave Art Techniques or not. I will continue to blog. That will not change. I might be more infrequent with my posts but I will continue to post my artwork here.


I loved meeting so many artists these past four days. This is the first vacation I have taken without my kids in a very long time. I really missed my family and want to be with them and work on projects I have put on the back burner. I will NOT flake and not complete any swaps that I have already posted. I send out the collage technique booklets already in the works. I will just have to learn not to do so much anymore. I might actually get some quality sleep.